


smoke signals

by mei (nurs3pink)



Series: ghosts are real, who would've known? [1]
Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: "its okay we can work with this", (depends on what u think is happy), Aged-Down Character(s), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Amnesia, Amnesiac ghost dream, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Biblically Accurate Angels, Character Death, Character Turned Into a Ghost, Clay | Dream Needs a Hug (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream-centric (Video Blogging RPF), Death, Don't Judge Me, Eventual Happy Ending, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Ghost Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Ghosts, Guardian Angels, Haunted Houses, How Do I Tag, Hurt/Comfort, I Don't Even Know, I Tried, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Inspired by Music, Inspired by a Cavetown Song, Multiple mentioned characters - Freeform, My First Work in This Fandom, No Romance, Not Beta Read, Oh My God, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Out of Character, POV Third Person, Rating May Change, Sad Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Sad and Happy, Slow To Update, Sort Of, Tags Are Fun, Tags Contain Spoilers, Tags May Change, This Is Not Going To Go The Way You Think, Weird Plot, Weird Plot Shit, Weird lore, Why Did I Write This?, additional tags will be added whenevr i want to but character tags will be added as we go on, and might get one, don't mind me putting my current situation in dreams past, even though i haven't, except for some characters, haha ghost dream go brrrr, it/its pronouns for dream, might, no schedule set, only for a minute tho, pov switches per chapter, probably, ps this is a fic about the characters not the actual people, rating is probably not accurate, sorry for dumping all my feelings in here, these tags are a rollercoaster but i can assure u the fic is fine, theyre all 15, uh oh i smell angst, unless..?, watch as hell breaks loose while dream is just trying to figure out what happened when he was alive, watch out for trigger warnings in notes, why are their real names included in the tags thats weird, yet - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-15 05:08:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29678901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nurs3pink/pseuds/mei
Summary: "i know i'm a freak."it wasn't supposed to end this way."ripped the bandaid,"out of all of the things that could've happened, it had to be this?"broke the peace."he had to hear the screams of every single one of his loved ones, even in his death. because god loves torturing him, doesn't he?"took the lock but lost the key."smoke— it filled his lungs, and it felt— it felt horrible."guess i set you free."a restless ghost."i hope you found a place to sleep."(imo; doesn't count as major character death if the character was dead from the start, but i'll add a warning if i write a detailed  flashback about his death.)
Relationships: Alexis | Quackity & Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit, No Romantic Relationship(s)
Series: ghosts are real, who would've known? [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2180871
Comments: 2
Kudos: 63





	1. prologue

the fire spread everywhere.

there was no escape, huh?

the smoke, it smelt so bad.

he coughed, coughed, coughed, and— coughed.

he could hear screaming,

but that was all.

"i know you're bound to think of me."


	2. you can come home to me,

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> waking up in a weirdly familiar house. huh, strange.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me: god, i sure hope i don't get an idea while trying to sleep at 3 am and end up internally crying because i won't be able to write it till morning.  
> my brain: whoomp whoomp whoomp yeahyeahyeah yeahyeahyeah.
> 
> [SLOW UPDATES]  
> i'm trying, i really am.   
> i've never written a serious fanfic with multiple chapters, please bear with me.   
> probably ooc, sorry.  
> check end notes for some (mentioned in this chapter) ghost lore.
> 
> song: smoke signals - cavetown [ft. tessa violet.]

It was bright.. so bright..   
He didn't like this.   
He'd regret this–  
He didn't want this–  
noononoNOHEDIDNTWANTTH—

It felt as if it wasn't supposed to be there.

It all started with... what? It didn't remember.. its death or anything. It just.. woke up? It was all just blank.. well, not all of it. 

It woke up to a broken ceiling, the paint was chipping. It was laying down on the ground, bits of the ceiling surrounding it. It felt like it'd been asleep for years, decades, centuries even. It could barely recall anything, aside from pieces of memories. Small pieces, very small ones, they weren't useful. Anyways, where was it? 

What?  
Wait— It? It? Wait, no—  
He.

There was a putrid smell, so.. putrid. If it‐ he could breathe he would definitely be coughing his lungs out. He sat up, something hit him as he did.  
He was dead.  
His pale, almost transparent, glowing hands gave it away.

This was weird. 

Wait, who was he? What did he even look like?  
He could only feel that there was something on his face

Hell, what even was his name?!  
Did he have one?   
He didn't remember, he didn't remember lots of things.

Only memories, very unfamiliar—  
memories?

He looked around some more, only now noticing what he was wearing. It was weird, to him atleast. He was used to.. old-styled clothes. Not modern ones. He remembered them, in his memories. 

Actually, he should explore his locati- house.  
Everything looked.. abandoned, —Of course, it probably has been here for centuries.— and slightly familiar. It was in his memories, right? He lived here? Probably. He died here? 

...  
He decided it's better if he didn't know the answer to that question. 

It looked like the house had been burnt and someone made a very shitty attempt at renovating it. Maybe that's why it only looked slightly familiar, not a lot of stuff survived the fire. He guessed he lived here before the fire happened.

He also could go through stuff, apparently. He discovered that after trying to bang his head against the wall. Basically, he fell through the wall and onto the first floor.

His mind wandered somewhere else.

Oh! Right! He didn't know what he looked like! He should go find something that reflects stuff, though he didn't know if ghosts appeared in mirrors or not. He assumed they did.

So he searched everywhere...  
...and he didn't find anything. 

So there he was, wandering around in an abandoned house with no recollection of who he was or how he looked like.

But maybe it was better if he didn't know.  
Maybe, just maybe, it was better if he didn't remember.  
Maybe it was better if he was alone for all eternity—

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud bang coming from what he assumed was the front door. Was someone trying to break in? The banging continued. He had no reason to panic, so he didn't. He was dead. No one could hurt him.

He heard a last bang, wood breaking and hitting the floor. Someone broke in. He heard footsteps. One— no, multiple people were there. Their footsteps echoed through the house, ringing into his ears as he tried to figure out what to do. They probably won't see him. 

Probably. 

He started hearing voices.

"Hey, guys, check this out!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alright, ghost lore that we learned in this chapter:  
> \- they can go through stuff.  
> \- whenever a person dies, they have to wait a "random" period of time before waking up as a ghost. (this will definitely be expanded in the next few chapters, but no spoilers yet!)
> 
> not much but just u wait till i pull out the fluff.
> 
> psa;; in this au ouija boards don't attract demons.


	3. when you're ready.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> maybe playing with a ouija board late at night in an abandoned house wasn't a good idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cavetown is my motivation. i believe in cavetown supremacy.
> 
> i was fighting with autocorrect during this, if u notice anything off please tell me!
> 
> quackity's probably be the one less ooc because i watch his streams the most.
> 
> i don't really know how a ouija board works, so, uh.  
> also, my writing style changed.

"Hey, guys, check this out!"

The flashlight illuminated what had once been a living room. The paint chipping from the walls and ceiling and falling onto the almost-burnt-into-a-crisp couch. Huge holes all over the ceiling that exposed wood or even upstairs. It looked like someone had tried to block the stairs but gave up halfway. Pieces of plastic and glass were scattered all throughout the floor. There was dried blood basically everywhere but it, surprisingly, wasn't that noticeable.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

Three people followed behind him close, being careful. Dodging any glass and crumbs.

"No, but we won't know if this house is haunted or not unless we try!"

"Come on Tommy, it's three in the morning. Won't your dad get mad?"

The boy, Tommy, looked behind him. Eyeing the people behind him.

"Phil? Oh, that old man won't do anything."

"But—"

"Don't listen to Tubbo, let's just fucking do this."

Quackity pulled out the ouija board from his bag. He set it on the floor, the planchette along with it. They've read a wikihow article on how to do this, they should be fine. Well– they won't exactly follow the rules. It'll be fun though, thats all that matters. They'll do anything to make their lives more interesting. 

They all sat around the board, putting their fingers on the planchette. They somehow manage to not sit on glass. Quackity felt like.. something was watching him, but he pushed it aside as the creepy atmosphere getting to him.

So, after welcoming any spirits to join, the teens started the session.

"Uhh– okay, who starts?"

Tubbo asked. Quackity looked behind him for a second before sighing.

"I'll do it."

Wikihow said to choose only one person to ask questions, so they'll all ask questions. Besides, it's not like ghosts are real, right?–

"Are any spirits here?"

Quackity asked. They all looked at the planchette. Obviously, they were surprised when it actually started moving. One of them probably gasped, but they were all focused on the planchette to register it. The planchette moved to yes, indicating there was someone else here.

"Alright who fucking moved it?"

Tommy looked up. Quackity and Tubbo just shrugged. 

"We didn't."

"Okay. what's your name?"

Tommy was the one who asked this time. The planchette started moving again, spelling the sentence slowly. The uneasiness growing stronger every second. 

' I D O N T K N O W '

"What? How do you not know?"

"Yeah, how the fuck do you not know?"

Tommy and Quackity asked. The planchette just moved around in circles.

"Let's not get too crazy with the questions."

They didn't want to give the spirit a heart attack, if it even could have one (Probably couldn't), they just wanted to mess with it. The room was pitch black; if there was someone there no one could see them. And it's a very good opportunity for the ghost to attack —

Actually, had the room always been this dark? 

No, they could see stuff more clearly earlier. If the light changed it should've gotten brighter. Also, it's only been 4 minutes. The light shouldn't have changed at all! Unless..

Maybe, it was the ghost messing with them?

"Uhh, how did you—"

Tubbo paused.

"—how did you die?"

The planchette stopped.

Then it started counting from A to Z.

"Shit! Fuckfuckfuck-" 

Tommy did the thing he always did, say bad words.

"Let's just.. continue! We're popping off!"

"Don't say that ever again."

Another one of the articles said they should start with yes or no questions. They decided to ask the examples, because better safe than sorry, right? They're probably going to fuck it up anyway.

"Are you an angel?"

They all asked in unison. The planchette stopped and seemed to hesitate before moving to no.

"Are you a guide spirit?"

Tommy asked this time.

"Spirit guide."

Quackity corrected him.

"Yeah, that."

It didn't move out of no, so they just guessed it was saying no. 

Wait.

Did the room just get darker? Maybe they should end this session soon.

"Were you a human once?"

Quackity asked. Everything just seemed to- stop. The cars zooming by weren't audible anymore, everyone just suddenly shut their mouth.

Maybe he shouldn't have asked that.

The planchette just moved to yes.

"Holy shit-"

"Did you guys-"

"-Feel that?"

They asked in unison. They had all felt that.  
The feeling of being watched just grew an immense amount now.  
What the fuck?

They should just move to the next question. 

"Have you had more than one life in this world?"

It rapidly moved to no, almost knocking their fingers off of the planchette.

They should DEFINITELY end this session soon.

They sort of wanted to mess with the ghost some more, so they did.

"What will happen in the future?"

"Tommy! No—"

The planchette started moving and everyone shut their mouths (again).

'A M I S U P P O S E D T O K N O W ? '

"Shit! Is this a fucking joke?!"

"—We didn't move it!"  
"—It's supposed to know!"

Tommy just complained. Quackity and Tubbo seemed unfazed. But on the inside, oh fuck, they were all so unnerved.

"Should we ask more questions?" 

Quackity asked them. The others just deadpaned. They didn't even remember the other safe questions! Quackity slightly remembered something about contacting the spirit again, but that was useless. They all knew well they were never using the board again.

"No! Let's just burn this shit and bury it somewhere."

Tommy was, obviously, frustrated. They all knew it was a bad idea, a really bad one. Every single site said not to do that.

"But didn't the article say-"

"Shut the fuck up!"

Quackity got up and grabbed the grabbed the board, throwing it against the wall. He then stomped it about ten times before backing off. Tommy took out the lighter and turned it on before throwing that at the board. They watched it burn before splashing the fire with water (So it wouldn't spread and burn the house, they didn't want to anger the spirit.. and they were too young to go to jail). They buried it in the crumbs of the ceiling.

And then they ran out of there. They didn't want to deal with this stuff. They were extremely exhausted. Way too tired. How had it only been 18 minutes? It felt like hours.

They walked back home, but..

—the feeling of being watched hadn't faded, it had just gotten stronger.  
No doubt they were going to plop right onto bed when they're home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> maybe monthly updates ??  
> i hope this was worth the wait ! i worked really hard on this.
> 
> 1,096 words 6,158 characters


	4. i left the gate unlocked for you.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> literally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FUCK.

A loud thud echoed through the house. 

What..?

What just—

He was somewhere else.   
He was infront of a board.

A board he was temporarily attached to. 

He was around people..  
..and they couldn't see him, but he could see them, and they looked—

They looked—

What was the word?

They looked..

Looked..

Familiar..?

They asked him some questions. He tried to answer them, but his head hurt so bad. He was just not controlling his body, there was someone else. A blurry dark figure.

It was like he was about to black out.

But then he appeared somewhere else—

—And the thud echoed again.

He poked his head out from the stairs cautiously, they were gone. The humans were gone.

Something was different,   
something was..  
..off.

He looked more human-like, less pale, he didn't glow.   
He was solid.

whatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatWHAT—

But then, something hit him.   
He was free..

..they didn't say goodbye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this one's short! i promise next one will be much longer.  
> just wanted to write about how dream's doing.
> 
> 152 words, 867 characters


End file.
